Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner commemorated Juneteenth — the day slavery formally ended in the United States — by appearing on WVON-AM 1690 and proclaiming that he’s done more for African-Americans “than anybody.”

“It’s one thing to promote social spending, human services programs. That’s fine. (Imprisoned former Democratic Gov. Rod) Blagojevich did a lot of that. OK. I respect that and I support a lot of that too,” Rauner told the station’s predominantly black audience.

Rauner said he had accomplished “historic things for the black community — I would argue more than any other governor.”

“Creating economic opportunity. Making more equality in contracting. We’ve done historic things and we’re going to keep fighting to do more.”

Rauner touted a recent executive order he issued that is aimed at helping black-owned businesses gain from state contracting.

Democrats were sharp with their criticism of Rauner’s comments involving a core constituency of the Democratic Party.

Rep. Christian Mitchell, a black Democratic lawmaker from Chicago, used Twitter to say, “Seriously, Gov. Rauner’s wild statement about how he’s done ‘more for black people than anyone’ is Trumpian in word and thought. Someone should pull a blood panel and check for substances.”

“Next, he’s probably going to tell us he really liked ‘Black Panther,’ too,” Lightford said in the statement. “That movie contains more truth than Rauner’s claims.”

Rauner’s Democratic opponent, J.B. Pritzker, said Rauner “fabricated a track record of standing up for the black community when he’s been nothing short of a failure.”

“While Rauner pays lip service, Illinois’ black unemployment rate is the highest in the nation. That’s after Rauner’s budget crisis crushed small businesses, decimated social services, reduced access to child care assistance for working families, and forced anti-violence programs to freeze operations,” Pritzker said in a statement.

Pritzker noted that Rauner, appearing on the same radio station in January, refused to directly answer whether he believed former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke to be a racist. Rauner’s campaign was forced to later issue a clarification that the governor indeed believed Duke to be a “racist.”

In May of last year, African-American tech entrepreneur Jimmy Odom, who went to work for Rauner to focus on minority entrepreneurship in 2015, left his post contending the state did not give enough attention and resources to minority business development.

“Prior to accepting this position, I always stated I would step down in my role if I believed the Illinois’ leadership towards helping the community was no longer a genuine priority. Unfortunately, that day has come,” he wrote in a Medium.com posting.